Read what’s in the news today, December 27!

Society

-- Competent Vietnamese agencies are working with authorities in Taiwan are searching for 152 Vietnamese tourists who have been nowhere to be seen after entering the island in four separate groups on December 21 and 23 to the great surprise of their tour operator.

-- A speedboat capsized off an islet in Nha Trang Bay on Wednesday, killing a Vietnamese and Chinese tourist and leaving a four-year-old Chinese in critical condition.

-- A fierce fire completely consumed a textile factory in the southern city of Can Tho on Wednesday night and took around 20 fire engines and 200 firemen more than three hours to extinguish. No estimates of damage have been given.

-- Police in Ho Chi Minh City said Wednesday they had arrested two men in their early 20s on charges of trading firearms, stun batons and pepper spray.

-- A concert headed by famed Japanese conductor Honna Tetsuji and featuring musical pieces of the world and Vietnam is scheduled for January 1 at the Hanoi Opera House. The performance is planned to be broadcast live on state television.

-- Rainfall of 20-30 millimeters is forecast to hit multiple southern Vietnamese areas on Thursday and Friday as a result of a tropical low-pressure system in the East Vietnam Sea, according to a hydrometeorology agency.

Business

-- Hanoi will transform two of its major open run-off ditches into underground pipes to make way for the route to be constructed for the maiden Formula One race Vietnam is set to host in 2020.

-- Vietnam’s leather and handbag exports reached US$19.5 billion this year as shoe and handbag companies are predicted to keep shifting their sourcing from China to Vietnam in 2019 to take advantage of upcoming free-trade agreements, said the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association.

-- Vietnam has designated around 760 hectares of the 4,000-hectare Dankia-Suoi Vang forest and lake area in the Central Highlands as the national tourist attraction by 2030.

Education

-- Three seniors of Quy Nho University in the south-central province of Binh Dinh brought home the grand prize of a provincial startup contest for their voice control device that turns lights on and off without using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection.

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